The Wicked King by Holly Black

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

The Wicked King is a book that is everything I want a sequel to be. I loved it as much as the first and being it falls in the middle, sometimes that is hard to do.

Oh my Jude. What I love most about her character is how flawed she is. There is so many times where I hardly like her and I think she brings so much down on herself. I also often feel sympathetic to her because she stuck playing in a world that humanity is a weakness. I think she wants to pretend that she doesn’t have it but she does.

As far as Cardan, I don’t think we see him as much as I would like to see him. He’s interesting in this book and again I think Jude brings so much on herself. If she really looked at Cardan and saw him as he is and not what she’s decided he will be, she could make things easier on herself. I don’t think it’s a matter of trusting as even confiding. Some of the things, I don’t think he could really use in a nefarious way but if she only gave him the information..

I still love Cardan and Jude together. I can’t decide if that’s wrong or right but Cardan can’t lie. I feel like that is so so important to remember.

The plot is cut throat and political as the first. A chess board with many moving pieces. Always interesting.

That ending!!! That ending!!! Okay so for me I loved it because there are two possibilities that I see as to why it happened. That is what I love so much about it. Maybe there are more I’m not seeing but I’m holding on to what I think because because one could be bad and one could be good. I can’t believe I have to wait so long for the next book.